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Isolation between sympatric anadromous and resident threespine stickleback species in Mud Lake, Alaska

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Abstract

A sympatric pair of anadromous and resident freshwater threespine stickleback species (Gasterosteus aculeatus species complex) occurs in Mud Lake in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Alaska. The two forms differ in an array of morphological traits, including traits associated with predator defense (e.g., spine lengths) and trophic ecology (e.g., number of gill rakers). Mud Lake is only the third lake reported to have anadromous stickleback (which have a complete row of lateral plates) coexisting with low-plated resident stickleback in the absence of intermediate partially plated fish. Microhabitat and seasonal isolation appear to contribute to reproductive isolation between the two forms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jeffrey Jones and Rajit Patankar for assistance in the field. We are grateful to John Baker, Bill von Hippel, Anthony Yeo, Kim Peterson, and Charlotte Beck for helpful conversations during data analysis, and we thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript. We thank Windsor Aguirre for the photo of the species pair and, along with Anup Gangavalli, for permission to cite their unpublished data. Ofer Gelmond created the map of Mud Lake. This research was funded by a University of Alaska Anchorage Faculty Development Grant to FAvH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA

    Anjali D. Karve & Frank A. von Hippel

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 70118, USA

    Michael A. Bell

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  1. Anjali D. Karve
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  2. Frank A. von Hippel
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  3. Michael A. Bell
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Correspondence to Anjali D. Karve.

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Karve, A.D., von Hippel, F.A. & Bell, M.A. Isolation between sympatric anadromous and resident threespine stickleback species in Mud Lake, Alaska. Environ Biol Fish 81, 287–296 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9200-2

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